Wednesday, October 28, 2009

I know it hasn't really been that long, but we have been humbly reminded of all of the blessings that we are surrounded with by the incredible number of people we have in our lives that wanted updates on how Pam and baby were and are doing. Today it was "When are pictures of the baby going to be up?" So, with out further ado, the first pictures of William Joseph McBride.

William was born via C-Section. This is him right after the doctor got him out. I was in the operating room with Pam and they told me to stand up and look over the curtain right before it was time to lift him out. I never realized how purple babies are that are born C-Section are. You can't really see it in this picture, so you'll just have to take my word for it.

This is William in the warmer in the operating room. They got him in there quick, got some oxygen in him (which takes care of the purple color) and cleaned him up. Check out the spike he had going on with his hair. If you look close you can see the conehead shape on the top of his head. He was trying his best to come down the birth canal but he just couldn't fit because Pam wasn't dialated enough.

While the doctor finished closing up Pam I took William to the nursery to have all of his checks and pokes and prods. He did great. The sensor is checking out his pulse and is O2 level. Both were right where they were looking for him to be.

Pam decided pictures were needed of me changing my first diaper. Yup, I've managed to make it to age 34, with all the little ones around our church, without changing a diaper. Pam said I passed. And no, William does not like the whole diaper changing thing.

Part 1 of William's first bath. As you can see he liked the whole warm water, head/hair washing thing.

Part 2 of William's First Bath. Not so much on liking the rest of it.

Mom and Baby Sleeping. No other words needed.

William with Grandpa McBride on Wednesday. We were so happy my parents and brother got here on Monday to be with us for the birth of our first baby.

And, of course, I couldn't post pictures of a new McBride baby without a picture of William with Uncle Doug.

Tuesday, October 27, 2009

Thank you everyone for your prayers during Pam's labor yesterday. We have a healthy, beautiful baby boy. As usual things did not go as planned but the end result was a healthy mom and baby. Pam did a wonderful job through almost 24 hours of back labor. She used all we have learned in our classes. Unfortunately her cervix wouldn't cooperate. While her contractions were getting stronger throughout the evening her dilation was stuck at 4cm for well over 12 hours. After much consideration, thought and especially prayer we agreed that the best thing for both mother and baby, who after delivery we saw was trying to force himself down a cervix that wasn't ready for him, was to deliver via a C-Section. While not the natural birth we wanted for William, Pam and I were and are totally at peace with the decision. The OB on call was wonderful in explaining the benefits and risks of C-Section and attempting to continue a vaginal delivery. She even asked us if she could pray with us before the surgery. For me (Jeff) that was the final nudge in knowing that we were doing the right thing that I had gotten while praying over the decision with Pam. As always, we were firmly in God’s hands. The C-Section went off without a hitch and William was delivered screaming his lungs out ready to face the world. As I type this mother and baby are resting together in our post partum room at Round Rock Medical Center. The staff here has been excellent from the time we got here. They have truly respected and honored our wishes for the birth and worked to help Pam as she labored yesterday. And for me, I was truly amazed at the speed and proficiency that the OR team worked at last night when we decided on the C-Section. While not what we pictured for the moment, we were together, in good hands, and could not have been in any more amazement at hearing the words “It’s a boy!!!” and seeing William for the first time.

For those of you in the Austin area we would love to have people stop by starting this afternoon/evening (Tuesday) to visit and meet William. It looks like we’ll be in the hospital till Thursday, possibly Friday. Thanks again for all of your prayers during Pam’s labor. We are truly blessed to have as many showing they love us by checking in with how we were doing.

Sunday, October 18, 2009

So as it's feline nap time on Sunday afternoon here in the McBride household we realized the differences in our cats. We have had three cats so far and each of them have had totally different personalities. Lizzie is our independent one. She is totally Texan: mossies most of the time except when food in involved, only will let you give her attention when she wants it, and playing with toys fairly infrequently. Logos is our social cat: he is pretty much in the same room as we are all the time, will play with a toy for 15~20 minutes at a time, though like Lizzie he will only let you give him attention when he wants it.

This showed up today, Lizzie took a nap on our bed and Logos in the living room with us.

Friday, October 9, 2009

Just wanted to update you. We are at 38 weeks, and 3 days to be exact, so 11/2 weeks to go. We had an ulrasound this morning and we got a picture of our Little Pumpkin's face. The ultrasound says that our baby is about 8lbs, 6 oz right now. That means the baby is probably a little smaller than that. We will wait and see what our Little Pumpkin comes out as.